Two things that hit me lately:
1. When we say that we're here to glorify God, do we really understand what we're saying? Every thing we say, do, and think should be for HIM! Every time we start something new, it should be to serve Him. We have to be actively watching ourselves. We have to be living each moment as Colossians 3:17 says: "Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father." Boy am I bad at that!
2. Worldliness doesn't always come in the same packaging. I think when most people hear it, we imagine an obsession with pop culture, a slavish following of the latest fashions, a desire to be "cool," materialism, etc, etc. But that's only one type. Any undo affection for things that aren't of God is worldliness. I'm a total culprit. I have an Athenian tendency - I'm a lover of ideas. I've found myself wanting to study the Bible, not necessarily to understand God better, but to learn something new. I get in trouble with my parents because I'll extend my schoolwork as long as I can each day. (Bring on the nerd jokes) I oftentimes find myself valuing things based on how much I learned from them. Although Proverbs says we should pursue knowledge, devotion to it at the expense of primarily seeking God is a disgusting form of worldliness. Solomon tried it, and ultimately it let him down.
1. When we say that we're here to glorify God, do we really understand what we're saying? Every thing we say, do, and think should be for HIM! Every time we start something new, it should be to serve Him. We have to be actively watching ourselves. We have to be living each moment as Colossians 3:17 says: "Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father." Boy am I bad at that!
2. Worldliness doesn't always come in the same packaging. I think when most people hear it, we imagine an obsession with pop culture, a slavish following of the latest fashions, a desire to be "cool," materialism, etc, etc. But that's only one type. Any undo affection for things that aren't of God is worldliness. I'm a total culprit. I have an Athenian tendency - I'm a lover of ideas. I've found myself wanting to study the Bible, not necessarily to understand God better, but to learn something new. I get in trouble with my parents because I'll extend my schoolwork as long as I can each day. (Bring on the nerd jokes) I oftentimes find myself valuing things based on how much I learned from them. Although Proverbs says we should pursue knowledge, devotion to it at the expense of primarily seeking God is a disgusting form of worldliness. Solomon tried it, and ultimately it let him down.
But how good is Christ, that He would take responsibility for all that guilt of mine so that I can live with Him for eternity! Just think about that. Why on earth would God do that for anyone? There's simply no adjective that can be used to describe Him.
On another note....I just came across this book: A Truth Universally Acknowledged: 33 Great Writers on Why We Read Jane Austen. Alright. At first, I was rather interested, but then I started thinking about the title. Not only does it have arguably the #1 literary cliche of all time as its main part, the subtitle had me almost laughing. The way I see it, the book's written by 33 people who have been made to feel slightly guilty & insecure about reading 200-year old chick lit, trying to show the world that they have intelligent reasons for doing so. And notice the qualifier "great." I guess the book would be irrelevant if the subtitle was: 33 Unknowns on Why We Read Jane Austen. But I guess the topic of the book isn't too bad since I'm a quasi-Janeite myself - I'll always be a die-hard fan of Elinor Dashwood & Edward Ferrars......and J.A. is pretty intellectual. :-)
Speaking of books, this one looks really cool. Who'd have thought that Isaac Watts wasn't just a hymn writer?
Speaking of books, this one looks really cool. Who'd have thought that Isaac Watts wasn't just a hymn writer?
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